Mapping CRISPR-Cas9 public and commercial innovation using The Lens institutional toolkit

CRISPR-Cas9 is a revolutionary technology because it is precise, fast and easy to implement, cheap and components are readily accessible. This versatility means that the technology can deliver a timely end product and can be used by many stakeholders. In plant cells, the technology can be applied to knockout genes by using CRISPR–Cas nucleases that can alter coding gene regions or regulatory elements, alter precisely a genome by base editing to delete or regulate gene expression, edit precisely a genome by homology-directed repair mechanism (cellular DNA), or regulate transcriptional machinery by using dead Cas proteins to recruit regulators to the promoter region of a gene. All these applications can be for: 1) Research use (Non commercial), 2) Uses related product components for the technology itself (reagents, equipment, toolkits, vectors etc), and 3) Uses related to the development and sale of derived end products based on this technology. In this contribution, we present a prototype report that can engage the community in open, inclusive and collaborative innovation mapping. Using the open data at the Lens.org platform and other relevant sources, we tracked, analyzed, organized, and assembled contextual and bridged patent and scholarly knowledge about CRISPR-Cas9 and with the assistance of a new Lens institutional capability, The Lens Report Builder, currently in beta release, mapped the public and commercial innovation pathways of the technology. When scaled, this capability will also enable coordinated editing and curation by credentialed experts to inform policy makers, businesses and private or public investment.